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movement toward full community inclusion around the world.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Year V, Edition 867
Today's front page features 8 news and information items,
each preceded by a number (#) symbol.
Click on the"Below the Fold"
link at the bottom of this page for 34 more news items.
QUOTES OF THE DAY:
"We want to make it a fun campaign and so
decided to use some traditional British toilet humour."
--Andrew Crooks,
a disability rights campaigner who is heading up 'Free 2 Pee', an initiative to
make England's public restrooms more accessible to people with disabilities
(Fourth story)
"I told him I wanted to direct a piece that I really had some heart
connection to -- some way theatrically to make a political statement about
disability."
--Kaleb Anderson, who has cerebral palsy and is directing
Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis" at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He got the
suggestion for the play -- about a traveling salesman who wakes up one morning
to find he's turning into a cockroach -- from one of his professors (Fifth
story)
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# CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Denver Mayor
Appoints Task Force To Examine Police 'Use Of Force" Policy
By Dave
Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 29, 2004
DENVER,
COLORADO--Mayor John Hickenlooper has created a task force to examine how
citizens will oversee police policies, and to overhaul the Denver Police
Department's policy on 'use of force'.
The mayor gave the 38-member group 90 days to submit a proposal to him.
"I want to make sure you focus on the issues of civilian oversight and use of force," Hickenlooper told the committee at its first meeting Wednesday. "I want that sense of priority and that sense of urgency."
Hickenlooper specifically asked the group to modify the department's policy to emphasize the "commitment to preserving life" and to clarify that officers can use non-lethal force to de-escalate violent confrontations.
The committee was formed in response the community's outcry after a police officer shot to death 15-year-old Paul Childs III.
On July 5, 2003, Childs' family called police in the hopes that they could help calm him down after a series of outbursts in the family home.
Officer James Turney shot Childs, who had epilepsy and mental retardation, when the teen failed to follow police instructions to drop a kitchen knife he was clutching to his chest. A fellow officer standing next to Turney was armed with a non-lethal Taser, but claimed he was not in a position to use it.
A neurologist later suggested that Childs' behavior prior to the shooting may have been caused by the after-effects of a massive seizure he had experienced a few days earlier.
The incident has prompted legislators to consider "Paul's Law", a measure that would require all law enforcement officers and dispatchers in Colorado to undergo crisis-intervention training, along with specific instruction on dealing with suspects who have mental illness or developmental disabilities. It also has prompted the family to prepare a federal civil rights suit against the police department with the help of well-known attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.
Related:
"The Death of Paul Childs III" (Inclusion Daily Express
Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/crime/childs.htm
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# ACCESSIBILITY / LAWS
Man Claims City Retaliated Against Him
Over Golf Cart Lawsuit
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily
Express
January 29, 2004
CLAREMORE, OKLAHOMA--Gene Young runs the
risk of getting ticketed if he chooses to drive his golf cart on the streets of
Claremore, now that a federal judge has refused to grant him a restraining
order against the city, the Claremore Progress reported Wednesday.
Young has cerebral palsy and uses a golf cart to get around the small town northwest of Tulsa. He was cited by Claremore Police on October 26 of last year for operating his golf cart on the highway as he was coming home from his job at Lowe's Home Improvement store. He was found guilty in a December 2 trial, and fined $140.
Young filed an appeal on December 23 in federal court, claiming the city is violating the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
On January 13, Young was pulled over again, and was told to keep his cart off of the road, but was not ticketed.
Young then filed for the restraining order in federal court, asking for a temporary injunction to keep the city from giving him any more citations.
In the petition, Young claimed that the city has not made reasonable accommodations for him under the ADA, but has given citizens without disabilities preferential treatment to travel city streets in golf carts. Special signs and warning lights have been installed on Clubhouse Road where golfers are allowed to go back and forth to different portions of the golf course.
Young also accused the city of retaliating against him because of his lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Terence Kern refused to grant Young the restraining order, saying that one "is not warranted in this case". Kern went on encourage the city and Young to work out a solution -- perhaps for the city to allow Young to drive his cart on specific routes or at specific times, as it currently does for golfers on Clubhouse Road.
Young's appeal is still pending.
---
# CRIME / LAWS
Law Would Make It A Felony To Alert Nursing
Homes To Inspections
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily
Express
January 29, 2004
FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY--A bill passed
unanimously by the Kentucky House Wednesday would make it a felony to warn a
nursing home that state health inspectors are on their way.
Under the measure, a person convicted of tipping off a long-term care facility about an upcoming Cabinet for Health Services inspection could receive a prison sentence of one to five years, and civil penalties of $5,000 to $10,000.
The bill also requires all inspections of long-term care facilities to be unannounced.
"Only by ensuring the integrity of the long-term care and nursing-home inspection process will we ever be able to ensure the safety of the residents there," said the bill's sponsor, Representative Kathy Stein.
The measure passed the House 94-0 and now heads to the state Senate.
The issue became a hot topic in Kentucky last year, when former Governor Paul Patton was investigated for allegedly informing a nursing home operator of an impending inspection. The allegations were made by nursing home operator Tina Conner after Patton broke off their two-year love affair. Patton denied the claims.
---
# ACCESSIBILITY / LAWS
Pubs Not Ready For October
Accessibility Deadline
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily
Express
January 29, 2004
LONDON, ENGLAND--A recent report for the pub
industry found that 48 percent of public houses licensed in England had done
nothing to make their facilities accessible to patrons with disabilities.
This in spite of the fact that the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act gave public houses until this coming October 1 to comply.
"I don't think the government is entitled to say pubs have no excuse for non-compliance," Andrew Crooks, a campaigner with the disability rights charity Scope, told ThePublican.com. "The government says the right things but what is it actually doing to raise awareness among small businesses?"
An industry spokesperson said that the real problem is that licensees don't know what disabilities exist that they must accommodate.
"Someone was recently fined £8,000 for not serving a group of people with learning difficulties," said Tony Payne, chief executive of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers’ Associations. "So the message needs to be spread to publicans, perhaps even by disabled people as well.”
Scope plans to launch a campaign in May to help licensees get ready for the October DDA deadline. The campaign, called "Free 2 Pee", will focus on making restrooms accessible to people with disabilities.
Related:
"Charity slams government for lack of DDA help for pubs"
(The Publican)
http://www.thepublican.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=12294&d=28&h=30&f=29
Scope
http://www.scope.org.uk/
---
# ARTS / AWARENESS
Director Picked Play For Statement About
Disability
January 29, 2004
GRAND MARAIS, MINNESOTA--The
following six paragraphs are excerpts from a story in Thursday's Cook County
News-Herald:
A talented Cook County graduate is directing his first play at the Dudley Experimental Theatre at the University of Minnesota-Duluth this weekend.
"It's my debut," said Kaleb Anderson, as he talked about directing Kafka's "Metamorphosis" which opened Thursday and runs through Saturday, Jan. 31 in the small intimate theater at the Marshall Performing Arts Center on the UMD campus.
It is this story that interests Anderson, who was born with cerebral palsy and has to use a wheelchair.
The young director, who graduated recently in drama and theatre from UMD, wasn’t sure what play he wanted to direct until he talked to Tom Isbell, one of his professors at the school.
"I told him I wanted to direct a piece that I really had some heart connection to -- some way theatrically to make a political statement about disability," Anderson said. "He recommended the play to me. I fell in love with it. I didn't have to change the script at all."
"You can't really read a book by its cover. If you're disabled, and it's something can physically be seen, I think society makes these judgments."
Entire article:
"Cook County native makes debut as director on the
UMD stage" (Cook County News-Herald)
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/04/0129a.htm
---
# TODAY'S FEATURED WEBSITE
DisabilityInfo.gov: The New Freedom
Initiative's Online Resource for Americans with Disabilities
Welcome to DisabilityInfo.gov, the comprehensive Federal website of disability-related government resources.
All of our citizens deserve to live and work with dignity and freedom. This website is an important step in our work to build an America where all individuals are celebrated for their abilities and encouraged to achieve their dreams.
http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/
---
# EXPRESS EXTRA!!!
ADVOCACY
Whatever Happened to Frida's Polio?
By Dave
Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 29, 2003
LOS ANGELES,
CALIFORNIA--The movie "Frida", which was released last fall, was a beautiful --
yet highly stylized -- portrayal of the life of Mexican painter Frida
Kahlo.
The film makes it clear that Kahlo, who was also famous as the wife of muralist Diego Rivera, had a disability. In one vivid slow-motion sequence, we see a young adult Kahlo in a bus accident which caused to her be impaled by an iron handrail. The rail broke her spine in 3 places and exited her vagina. She had numerous surgeries and was in pain for most of her life following the accident.
For years she painted while laying flat on her back in bed, using a reflection in a mirror attached to the ceiling to guide her hands to her work.
After watching the movie a few months ago, I searched the Internet to learn about this impressive woman.
The first biographical sketch I found mentioned that Kahlo contracted polio when she was 6 years old, which resulted in her having a "withered leg" and "left her with a limp". The Web site went on to say that she complained about it causing her much pain and grief. (In fact, a close look at her "Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair" below reveals the smaller right leg.)
The movie mentions nothing about Kahlo's polio. In fact, mid-way through the movie we see Selma Hayak, the actress who portrays Kahlo, dancing apparently without pain, and climbing an ancient Mexican pyramid.
Writer and disability rights activist Marta Russell, a long-time Kahlo fan, also noticed this strange omission.
"Historically incorrect (surprise) what does the omission say about disability?" Russell asked in a piece in Sunday's CounterPunch. "Why did the filmmaker decide to obliterate the polio?"
Full article:
"Extinguishing Frida -- Kahlo's Missing Withered
Leg" (CounterPunch)
http://www.counterpunch.org/russell01252003.html
Related
resource:
Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair. 1940. Frida Kahlo (Museum
of Modern Art, New York)
http://moma.org/collection/depts/paint_sculpt/blowups/paint_sculpt_017.html
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---
# BELOW THE FOLD
Click here for the rest of today's
disability-related news:
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/04/btf/01290440.htm
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